LONDON: A woman and a girl have died from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning on a boat on Lake Windermere in Cumbria.

North West Ambulance Service said the pair were found on a boat by the jetty near Glebe Road, Bowness, Monday evening.

They went into cardiac arrest and were taken by air ambulance to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Police later reported the woman, 36, and girl, aged 10, were dead.

The force said it was called to reports that three people on a private boat were having serious breathing difficulties.

The woman and the girl, both from the Leyland area of Lancashire, were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital. A man, who was also on the boat, is being treated at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne, 65, watched the huge rescue effort swing into operation at a jetty near Bowness from a nearby lodge. He tweeted: “Tragic accident over there I am afraid.”

The tragedy was witnessed by thousands of _day-trippers who flocked to the heart of the lakes over the holiday weekend.

Among them were staff from the nearby Ship Inn. One bar worker said: “It is a horrible end to a lovely weekend.”

Police blocked the roads and held back the crowds while a tarpaulin was placed over the craft to prevent bystanders watching the rescue attempts. The boat is believed to be a Bayliner, a luxury design with a diesel engine, with sleeping accommodation.